I spent much of the day helping train and brief excellent Prospective Parliamentary Candidates on what they need to do to win. One, in particular, I really hope will be an MP by Christmas (and still able to have a burgundy passport): Looking forward to the street I grew up on having a Lib Dem MP by Christmas [IMG: ๐Ÿ™‚] Matt Sanders will be an ace MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. https://t.co/opJa8CHdmb — Mark Pack [IMG: ๐Ÿ”ถ] (@markpack) September 16, 2019

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Live from the Conference hotel: Sarah Wollaston and Luciana Berger have just had the guts to be subjected to initiation by Glee Club. They got up front to sing a special new version of "'Twas on a Monday morning..." which has been adapted to the continuous flow of defectors to the party.... Full marks to Luciana and Sarah! Defectors are initiated in the glorious tradition of the Liberal Democrat Glee Club @sarahwollaston @lucianaberger #ldconf "'Twas on the Monday morning" pic.twitter.com/LZ23owZZUJ — paulwalteruk (@paulwalteruk) September 16, 2019 * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

Down at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, the Glee Club is underway. As always, a new edition of the Liberator Songbook is on sale for the event and, as always, Lord Bonkers has written a foreword to it. Bonkers HallTel. Rutland 7 Welcome to all our new members! I hope you enjoy your first Glee Club and, a word of reassurance, please don't worry: It's Meant To Be Like This. I have already met many of you when you attended one of my basic training camps on the shores of Rutland Water. The party has signed up so many ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

This is the second part of Bryan Magee's RTE interview from 1999. Persevere past the alien attack that comes halfway through. My conclusion after listening to this is that I should read Magee's book on Schopenhauer. I have read his short book on Wagner and it is very good. You can listen to part 1 here.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

BBC News reports on McDonald's bid to open a drive-through outlet on the outskirts of Oakham, the county town of Rutland: "It's such a small town to have a McDonald's," said Gaz Ali, who has managed Indian takeaway Eastern Delights for 20 years. "And at the end of the day it's going to bring riff-raff."Rutland is wealthy, but one of the nice things about Oakham is that it is a proper working town. It's not twee. The county's second town, Uppingham, dominated by its public school, would rather like to be twee. But it falls well short - I mean, ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The Liverpool Echo provides us with a reminder that Labour's hard left is every bit as much opposed to British membership of the European Union as the Conserservatives' hard right. Paula Barker, a regional convener with Unison, is the favourite to be the next Labour candidate for the city's Wavertree division, the seat currently occupied by the newly Liberal Democrat MP Luciana Berger. She is favourite not least because she has been backed by Momentum. The Echo reports on a speech she gave last gives us some highlights from a speech she gave last year: "If the left and the ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Mon 16th
18:11

Excellent speech Ed

We had a superb speech from Ed Davey MP this afternoon. He gave us some great attacks on Corbyn, Johnson, Brexit and climate change. But there was plenty of detail about what he would do if he becomes Chancellor including investing in training, town centres and especially in green technology.

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

The Liberal Democrats have taken Chuka Umunna pretty much to our hearts since he joined in June. He seems really happy and comfortable in his new surroundings Today he gave a keynote speech to Conference. "It's time for a change and someone who I know can provide the leadership this country needs: @JoSwinson" – @ChukaUmunna Join the LibDems to #StopBrexit and build a liberal Britain. [IMG: ๐Ÿ‘‰] https://t.co/xOHtAN8CQ2 pic.twitter.com/qKnzLua4lM — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) September 16, 2019 Here it is in full. Conference, it is an honour and a pleasure to be addressing you as a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Taking back control and re-asserting our sovereignty were impressive and successful themes in the Leave campaign in the referendum on membership of the EU. Yet on almost a daily basis we giving up, or rather selling, our sovereignty to foreigners. And it is a fair bet that the people who are behind this selling, and profiting from it, are the very people, or their backers, who continue to campaign to "take back control" Today ownership, and therefore control, of the UK's aerospace giant, Cobhams, has been sold to the American private equity company Advent International for £4bn. Last week a ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

The sad news of the passing of Terrance Dicks broke two weeks ago, and I posted my own little tribute to him on Twitter: My own little homage to the late great #TerranceDicks. pic.twitter.com/doiLgDrxSy — ๐™‰๐™ž๐™˜๐™๐™ค๐™ก๐™–๐™จ ๐™’๐™๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™š ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ (@nwbrux) September 2, 2019 Obviously this is a rather small subset of the books by him that I own; I think I have read more books by him than by any other writer. The novelisations of past Doctor Who stories which I read before I was a teenager were hugely important in an age where TV existed to be watched once and ...

YouGov
Mon 16th
14:21

Dr Wollaston I presume

One new game we are playing at this conference is get a selfie with a new MP. This is my first, with Dr Sarah Wollaston!

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

Unlike a lot of you, I was in the conference hall on Saturday morning for the debate on business tax. It was nice to see this issue being debated, but it is a reflection of political debate in general that the Hall was pretty quiet and that speakers cards were few in number. It seems that, for Liberal Democrats, as for politicians of other stripes, spending money is much more politically sexy than raising it. The motion itself was relatively anodyne. Could anybody seriously contest the proposal that corporate taxation would benefit from simplification? Of course not. Would greater transparency ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 16th
11:00

My tweets

Sun, 12:56: RT @MitchBenn: Who knew that telling literally half the country to fuck off was bad for business? https://t.co/dAqqtfwTMn Sun, 14:48: Crying in the archive: The story of Diana Bromley https://t.co/gP9rFKm3vR A story of racism, mental illness and stiff upper lips. Sun, 15:08: The oldest shop at Finaghy crossroads https://t.co/cwTzaSij98 Sun, 16:05: The Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland https://t.co/lhBRStzU6z What it says on the tin. Sun, 20:48: Golden Toilet Stolen From the U.K.'s Blenheim Palace https://t.co/Y0587yOr3s Police looking for something to go on. Sun, 21:47: RT @molloy1916: What goes around... September 10th, 1919, the British government ...

โฆ@DoddsJaneโฉ delivering her powerful conference speech with a strong vision for devolution #LDConf A fabulous new colleague and fantastic voice for Wales and โฆ@LibDemsโฉ pic.twitter.com/5O7dYyDbPF — Wera Hobhouse MP [IMG: ๐Ÿ”ถ] (@Wera_Hobhouse) September 15, 2019 Cynhadledd, diolch yn fawr. Before I get going today, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came to Brecon and Radnorshire to help during my campaign. Whether you came during the recall petition or the by-election or even both - thank you. Without all of you, and the wider party and beyond, I would not be standing here today as ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Day 2 was fortunately not quite as frenetic as Day 1. Not a single MP defected to us yesterday! However, those that did were in highly visible activities throughout the day. Especially visible was the normally demure Chukka! However, all ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Has monetary policy reached the end of the road? That is certainly an impression one is justified having reached following Mr Draghi's press conference where he announced lower interest rates and a resumption of asset purchases. Mr Draghi left nobody in any doubt that the outlook is not good for the Eurozone economy. And that the Bank is doing what it can to stimulate lending and investment. Yet, we all know that businesses do not borrow and invest simply because money is cheap. They invest when they see a positive future that will give them a good return on their ...

Posted by Joe Zammit-Lucia on Radix Think Tank

Of all the bizarre sayings and claims made by Boris Johnson, the weekend's announcement that he is the incredible Hulk of politics has to be the most bizarre. Promising to ignore the Commons legislation ordering him to delay Brexit if negotiations break down, Mr Johnson told The Mail on Sunday: "Hulk always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be - and that is the case for this country. "We will come out on October 31 and we will get it done." He added in an aside that appeared to refer to himself as the hero that ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2019 A90 Swallow roundabout - overnight (7.30pm - 6.30am) lane closure on roundabout from Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 September for carriageway resurfacing and lining work. Forthcoming Roadworks West Marketgait (at Hawkhill) - northbound nearside off-peak (9.30am - 3.30pm) lane closure from Monday 23 September for 5 days for Virgin Media work. Riverside Drive (Tesco roundabout to Bridgeview Café) - closed overnight (10.00pm - 6.00am) on Wednesday 2 October for bridge inspection works. SSEN Pitfour Area Cable Renewal - Phase 1: Pitfour ...